The plan was to eat breakfast at 5:15 or so but apparently that wasn’t everyone else’s plan. At about 4:00 AM the gym started waking up. It began like every other large-group wake-up: A couple people begin to get up and are really quiet, but as more people get up the acceptable volume level rises as there is more and more noise and people up and about. I checked my phone at 4:18 and Gerry was already awake giving me an update on how the morning had progressed.

Breakfast was all you can eat for $5 at the student center. We were greeted by complimentary Starbucks coffee while waiting in line then helped ourselves to pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and choice of water or Powerade, I went with the blue Powerade so I could put it in one of my water bottles and have at least 12 oz. or whatever small size it was to start the day off with.

By the time we had contacts in, teeth brushed and sleeping bags rolled up the gym was pretty much empty. I thought we were missing something but as we went outside to throw our bags in the luggage truck I noticed quite a number of tents still up and some people just sitting out in chairs enjoying their morning coffee. This morning was much less frantic than Saturday’s. The one U-Haul they had out was completely full so we through our bags in a growing pile (I think Gerry got a picture of it), hoped they would find their way to Portland and went off to pick up Valerie in Chehalis. Everything felt okay until I got in that saddle again, ouchie! Good thing things go numb after a while …

Six or seven miles down the road we got to the Chehalis Inn where Valerie had stayed. We took a moment so she could double check everything and then we got back on the route. Past Chehalis was mostly flat with nice countryside in the morning. In my head I was comparing it to the “countryside” of Roy and Yelm and much preferred where we had ended up. Just before Napavine, mile 114, we turned on to Rush Rd. which I knew had a hill climbing into town. Sure enought there was a 1/2 mile climb into town and I passed people going all the way up. Quick stop at the top to stretch a little since Valerie hadn’t that morning and passed the Free Banana Bread stop which I’ll definitely have to go to next year.

We three rode together to Winlock, mile 120, home of The World’s Largest Egg (Gerry and Valerie got a picture) and another mini stop. From there we were on the Winlock-Vader Hwy and Gerry and I rode together with Valerie a little ways back until Vader, mile 128, where I tried my first cold baked potato with salt (nothing but carbs and not too bad on the Taste-O meter). We met up with Valerie and headed out of town together. I lamented the fact there was no “Darth of Vader” merchandise or effects to be seen but I did notice a dilapidated school on the way out that sported a mascot that looked a little too much like Tony the Tiger, maybe that was why they were tearing it down.

Now we were on the Westside Hwy and enountered lots of rollers, ups and downs with some flats in between. The riding was much more spread out on this day, mostly having to do with people staying overnight from Centralia to Castle Rock and start time being when ever you got up and back on your bike. We three were riding in a little pace line of our own that I pulled for a little while and then Gerry took over at some point.

All throughout the ride you could see people on the side of the road every few miles with flats or bike problems. However, somewhere around mile 133 or so we enountered a major crash. There were scores of cyclists off the right shoulder and a few people a hundred feet or so down a small hill were shuttling riders into a single file line on the far side. There was a small group clustered at the top of the hill before it banked left and headed down. Somewhere in there I saw a rider on the ground. I didn’t feel the need to stop or hang around because of the number of people around I was sure the situation was under control and if there weren’t medical riders there at the time, there would be soon. There was also a Gold Wing rider at the bottom of the hill blocking traffic coming up the other side. A few minutes later we saw an aid car screaming the opposite direction and a few minutes later another went by. Because of just seeing this accident, when we got to a nice big down hill ride I kept my speed in check around 25-28 but Gerry flew by me with a “I just can’t resist”. I also saw a rider drafting behind an SUV passing in the left lane, not too smart, again because of the recent events we witnessed.

Castle Rock mini stop at mile 137 and I think Gerry had left us at this point. Like yesterday there were tons of cyclists on the road and whenever you passed a slow group you would find some free space but then inevitably run up against another group that was in front. Moral of the story was that you could never really break free and you had to resign yourself to a day of “on your left” as you went by searching for that mythical open road. Anyway, we had run up against a slow group as we climbed another hill and were going only about 14.5 mph and Gerry left with a “I just can’t go this slow of a pace” and was off.

At some point too I left Valerie, probably on a hill as we were climbing. My only complaint about the other riders was how slow most people would go up hills, and I’m not just talking about The Hill. I’m talking about little hills that you wouldn’t even measure in fractions of miles. When the groups I was around approached a hill most people powered down to 11-12 mph whereas me, with my new shoes and pedals, felt a surge of power and climbed up them sometimes approaching 19-21 mph. I don’t think that it’s because I’m so much stronger but something comes over me when I see these hills and I just put it in gear and go; “attack the top of the hill, not the bottom” someone said. I was even passing the fancy racing jersey types who would usually pass me back up on the flats or the way down but I was going strong on the hills which I was quite proud of myself for doing.

Lexington free food lunch stop at mile 145. I stopped and called Gerry who told me that the lines were too long so he rode by but kept going. Hey, if they were serving lunch for free with snacks and water and potties I was stopping. Valerie found me and we ate together but she didn’t like the chicken sandwich as much as I did, there were potatos and cucumber and ONIONS in it.

Back on route we were in Kelso soon. Then Longview, when does one end and the other begin? I remarked that we were entering the industrial part of the city and a fellow rider remarked that it was difficult to tell where the non-industrial part was and the industrial part due to their similarities.

In Longview is the exciting Lewis & Clark bridge at mile 152. It’s pretty cool to go over in a car but on bike it’s entirely different. What happens is you are siphoned off onto a side street and queued up with at least a couple hundred other riders to go over the bridge together as they block off traffic and some of the Gold Wings escort you over. We got to the back of the line and it looked like we would be going over shortly. Valerie spied a port-a-potty at the end and she stopped to use it. Before she got in the mass of cyclists had begun to go and when she got out we had just enough time to be some of the last of the group to go on that round. Funny endnote to that part, when I got on my bike and got clipped in I sat down and realized my helmet was on my seat. As we were going and I was clipped in I couldn’t really stop and do anything so I reached around and grabbed my helmet and put it on. Then as we are heading up a decent incline with lots of other cyclists surrounding me and while oncoming traffic is not stopped (it’s a two lane bridge) I’m trying, with one hand, to strap my helmet on. I saw a couple riders on the side of the bridge stopped but I thought that would take the fun and adventure out of it. On the way down there are some expansion joints that we had been warned about but I didn’t find that horrible. In fact, I used my super Ninja skills to ride over, exactly, one of the joints which were barely wider than my wheels and felt no bumps at all.

Welcome to Oregon! It felt kind of funny to get into Oregon halfway through the day with 50 miles to go since when you get into Oregon on I-5 you are just a few miles outside of Portland. We were now on US 30 which seemed to climb here and there, off and on but never appeared to go back down. Stopped in Goble at mile 162.9 and called Rose and Annie to let them know, I think time was approximately 12:30 PM. Valerie and I got water and refilled Gatorade.

On the road again, man, this seemed like a boring part of the ride. Luckily we found some groups to ride with including a couple guys with matching STP 2007 jerseys. We didn’t tell them we were there but they started pointing out road hazards to us so I figured they were cool with us riding with them. We also road with a tandem for a while which I realized was the way to go. They had twice the power and it was easy to draft behind them because of the amount of wind they got out of the way due to their size. We rode with the tandem until St. Helens, the last free food stop at mile 175.95 I had broken away and Valerie met me there a few minutes later. I snagged quite a few Cliff Bars here since they didn’t seem to care how many people took. Oh, and I almost rode away without my helmet. I had left it on the grass and Valerie noticed I wasn’t wearing it, another good reason to ride with someone you know. Luckily this was the last of my helmet shenanigans.

Stopped at the Scappoose ministop at mile 188.6 so Valerie could get some more Gatorade. I explained to a woman in a SUV what the ride was, she was wondering what ride was bringing all these cyclist around.

Passed Sauvie Island at mile 193.1 and I felt good because I had ridden out there before when we were visiting Annie & Scott a month or so earlier. From here to Portland I knew what to expect and had ridden it before recently and this familiarity gave me a sense of relief.

Mile 201.3, short steep hill up Vaughn St to NW Portland around the area of “trendy-third”. Going down the hill I was trying to call Rose and let her know our ETA.

Mile 203.2 up short hill onto sidewalk of Broadway Bridge. Lots of other cyclists at this point. The stoplights and intersections ahead didn’t help matters. The light at Multnomah and 1st took two cycles to go through. Nothing but huge groups of cyclists at the two or three lights ahead waiting to go. Finally see Holaday park and have to wait to go in the crowd of bikes and riders is so big. We dismount and walk through the finish line at mile 204.5, I point my helmet toward the guy with the mic so he can identify me and call out my name and town, apparently I live in Pee-yallup.

Walking through with Valerie I spot Rose with Milo in the backpack with a lovely sign and then see Oskar who I give a kiss too and tell him I’ll be back soon as soon as I find a place to put my bike. I get a free bottle of water from Group Health and an STP 2007 Finishers tag/badge/thing. Video of said finish is on YouTube.

After talking with Gerry, Rose, Valerie, Sarah and Bill (who made it down to see us) I put my bike in THE VAN and went looking for food and flip-flops. We ate many free Cliff Bar samples and I bought a gyro which I ate in record time. I found my luggage in the Misc. section because apparently the luggage people can only read typed numbers, not hand written ones and immediately took off my shoes to replace them with my beloved flip-flops. I called Annie and told her we would be on our way shortly and then went over to her house where I showered all the road dirt and bug juice off myself. I felt tired but happy and good about the ride. I could have trained harder and more often but overall I was good to go although while I was putting Oskar to bed that night at their house I think I probably fell asleep faster than he did, and this was at 8:00PM.